Welch's concord with the super-sugar method

[sour_grapes]

You are welcome!

 

[Arne]

You want to lower your s.g. make another batch with a lower s.g. to start with. Let it finish out, blend the high batch with the lower batch to the s.g. you want. Arne.

 

[BeginnerMark]

Hey guys sorry to bother you all again but I need to know how much sugar is needed per gallon... I need to make sure because earlier in the thread you guys said 1 pound of sugar per gallon but what's the best way to dilute it?
Thanks! I also plan on putting one pound of raisins too! Thanks

 

[wineforfun]

Hey guys sorry to bother you all again but I need to know how much sugar is needed per gallon... I need to make sure because earlier in the thread you guys said 1 pound of sugar per gallon but what's the best way to dilute it?
Thanks! I also plan on putting one pound of raisins too! Thanks

Mark,
There is no "amount of sugar per gallon". You just need to use your hydrometer and get the reading up around 1.140-1.150, with the addition of sugar. Take a reading with just the juice and then start adding a cup of sugar at a time and you will get there.

 

[wineforfun]

Please don't anyone take this the wrong way but this wine shouldn't be this complicated to make.

Simply put it is no more than concentrate, sugar to 1.145, ferment, drink..........repeat. Now I am as anal retentive and OCD as anyone(jswordy can attest to this) but it really is that simple to make.

You can certainly tweak it here or there, as I have added spices, oak and other things but in the end, it all goes back to concentrate, sugar to 1.145, ferment, drink..........repeat.

 

[jswordy]

Can someone give me a link from eBay for good K meta? ... Having trouble finding it

I bought potassium sorbate now I need to buy the KMeta help!

Did you find a source? There are tons. Two of the larger places:

Midwest Supply
Northern Brewer

I agree with wineforfun. This is as simple as it gets.

 

[BeginnerMark]

Thanks guys sorry I'm just a little nervous first time and I'm afraid it doesn't come out good... Anyways
Thanks a lot guys [emoji41][emoji2]

 

[wineforfun]

Thanks guys sorry I'm just a little nervous first time and I'm afraid it doesn't come out good... Anyways
Thanks a lot guys [emoji41][emoji2]

No worries, trust me, I was there once too but this recipe and Dave's Dragon Blood are two of the easiest, and hardest to mess up, wines you will ever make.

 

[BeginnerMark]

ust a finished the first couple steps of the wine... Sorry to bother you but I have 3 questions

1.You said that I leave it 24 hours before putting in the yeast in order to know if the primary is sanitized... How do I know if it's not sanitized?

2.Also I put sugar and KMETA until I got a hydrometer reading of about 1.10 not 1.150 like you said in the recipe because I didn't want 20% alcohol so I reduced the sugar to get about 13-15% alcohol... Is this ok?

3.And last question sorry to bother you... At what SG do I switch it to the carboy and at what SG do I rack it over... Since I changed the original SG I'm pretty sure this would change too right?

Thanks a lot!
MARK

 

[sour_grapes]

ust a finished the first couple steps of the wine... Sorry to bother you but I have 3 questions

1.You said that I leave it 24 hours before putting in the yeast in order to know if the primary is sanitized... How do I know if it's not sanitized?

2.Also I put sugar and KMETA until I got a hydrometer reading of about 1.10 not 1.150 like you said in the recipe because I didn't want 20% alcohol so I reduced the sugar to get about 13-15% alcohol... Is this ok?

3.And last question sorry to bother you... At what SG do I switch it to the carboy and at what SG do I rack it over... Since I changed the original SG I'm pretty sure this would change too right?

Thanks a lot!
MARK

1: I don't know who said that, or where.

2: It is okay that you reduced the sugar, but you will likely not wind up with a sweet wine. If you had gone to 1.150 like the recipe calls for, you would NOT have gotten a 20% ABV. The yeast that you are using cannot survive in more than about 15% ABV. The whole premise of this recipe is that you put in more sugar than the yeast can possibly handle, let them eat as much as they can until they die (at 15% ABV), then the rest of the sugar is still available to make your wine taste sweet.

[3: No, those values won't change because you changed the starting SG.]

EDIT: I now think that my last answer, #3, is wrong. See Post#140 by Wineforfun (DJ). His answer makes more sense in this situation.

 

[BeginnerMark]

Thank you so much!!!!!!!!

 

[BeginnerMark]

Left it for 24 hours put the yeast but the juice smells a little weird I'm a little scared... Any advice?!!

 

[sour_grapes]

Left it for 24 hours put the yeast but the juice smells a little weird I'm a little scared... Any advice?!!

Yes! Have a drink and stop worrying!

 

[BeginnerMark]

Got a paint strainer and put crushed raisins in it and put it in my primary we'll see how it comes out can't wait!!

 

[reefman]

Not sure if this has been discussed in the thread, but where can you get a good deal on Welch's concentrate.
Local Walmart is $2.00 per 11.5 oz. can. Doing the math = $48/6 gallons JUST for the JUICE!

 

[BeginnerMark]

I went to publix and they only had "old orchard" and only 5 cans of welchs so I got the five cans of welchs and the rest "old orchards hopefully it comes out good

 

[BeginnerMark]

And yea they're the same price everywhere... It's better than buying a wine kit for 80$

 

[BeginnerMark]

Went to stir my primary for the first time found bubbles and a little almost reddish white circle in the must... Is this a good sign?

 

[reefman]

bubbles (CO2) means the yeast is working. There might be a head of foam on top which could be what you described.
The type of wine and other conditions will control whether you get a foam head on top. I recall a pretty thick foam on my last batch of concord, but it was from grapes, not concentrate.

 

[wineforfun]

Not sure if this has been discussed in the thread, but where can you get a good deal on Welch's concentrate.
Local Walmart is $2.00 per 11.5 oz. can. Doing the math = $48/6 gallons JUST for the JUICE!

I pay 1.97 at my Wal-Mart. 30 bottles/$48=$1.60 bottle. Pretty inexpensive.